Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- After Brazil’s government took steps
this year to boost productivity and consumption, the country’s
businesses need to do their part by increasing investments in
2013, President Dilma Rousseff said yesterday.

Plans to reduce energy costs and spur infrastructure
investments will make the world’s sixth-largest economy more
competitive by cutting costs, Rousseff said in a speech
broadcast on national television. Lower taxes and interest rates
may also facilitate business, Rousseff said.

Brazil’s $2.5 trillion economy is set to see the slowest
two years of growth in more than a decade, as investments
through September fell for the fifth straight quarter. In the
wake of third quarter growth that was half economists’
forecasts, authorities this month have announced payroll tax
reductions for the retail and construction industries, a package
aimed at attracting billions of reais in port investments, and
an extension of popular tax cuts on automobiles and consumer
goods. Since August 2011, officials have also reduced benchmark
interest rates to record lows, increased public spending and
announced plans to cut energy costs by 20 percent.

“I call on business people to believe and invest in our
country,” Rousseff said. “This is a government that trusts its
people and its business community, and we respect contracts.”

Under Control

Flagging growth has failed to slow Brazil’s inflation,
which is set to remain above the central bank’s 4.5 percent
target for the third straight year. Consumer prices through mid-December jumped the most in 19 months on food and beverage
costs, bringing annualized inflation to 5.78 percent. Brazil’s
inflation will be lower next year compared to 2012, central bank
President Alexandre Tombini said on Dec. 17.

“We kept inflation under control, we improved the exchange
rate and we created conditions that allowed for interest rates
to fall to the lowest level in history,” Rousseff said in
yesterday’s speech.

Rousseff said other priorities next year include
investments in education and accelerating Brazil’s preparations
for the 2014 World Cup. “At the start of 2013, we will
inaugurate four more stadiums. We are in the final stretch of
preparations to host the best World Cup of all time.”

The world’s second-largest emerging market is set to expand
4 percent in 2013, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said earlier
this month. That compares with economists’ forecasts of 1
percent growth this year, which is down from 2.7 percent growth
in 2011 and 7.5 percent in 2010.